Integrity

Brother Howard, this is for you:)

When reading the bible story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, found in Daniel, I have to admit integrity was not the first value that came to my mind. Faith, trust, courage and love are a few that did come to mind.  Yet, the more I pondered on integrity, the more I realized I was lacking in my understanding.  So like any other person with a BA in English Literature, I first turned to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and was a little surprised to find that there were three different definitions for integrity.  I admit I was even more surprised when I found that all three definitions applied to the bible story I just referred to.  By simply looking up a definition my view on integrity increased as I have come to see that true integrity, to ourselves and to our God, encompass all three definitions: 1. Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. 2. An unimpaired condition. 3. The quality or state of being complete or undivided.

Firm adherence to a code of moral values is a dying practice in this day and age and I feel that in all eras of time there are plagues of selfishness, corruption, and greed.  This is seen at an extreme when King Nebuchadnezzar imposes a law requiring all to worship a golden idol, or be put to death by fire.  However, despite the promised punishment, three men chose to stick to their moral code which taught them to worship no one or nothing other than the Lord their God.  They made the right choice, as it was the right thing.  To them, it was not important what man commanded of them, even though they willingly obeyed, up until the point it threatened their loyalty to themselves and their God. Would it have served or increased anyone for them to worship with the hordes at the golden idol? No. So then why risk their integrity to such a spectacle, even if it meant laying down their lives.

“Bound in their inflammable clothes, they were consigned to the fiery death which no mere man could survive, but in the morning the king Nebuchadnezzar himself in astonishment and awe found four personages in the furnace as he said ‘Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God’ (Daniel 3:25). At the command of the king, they came forth unburned, unhurt, not even a hair of their heads singed and no smell of fire on their clothes. INTEGRITY! The promises of eternal life from God supersede all promises of men to greatness, comfort, immunities.  These men of courage and integrity were saying: ‘we do not have to live, but we must be true to ourselves and God’” (Spencer W. Kimball).

By continually holding to our moral code we know what we are to do and what we expect of ourselves, that when faced with temptations or trials, we firmly know which choice is the right choice.  This is taught often in the bible and put quite simply in Proverbs 11:3, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.”While taught in the scripture, it was also taught by great men of our age in time when Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true; I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light I have.” Simply meaning, It is not the outcome of what we accomplish that determines what we are, rather, we stand for and by the light that burns within us, that guides us, and that determines the outcome of who and what we are.  Although there is argumentation over what is moral and what is not, most people know for themselves what is right and what is wrong.  The more we fall prey to wrong choices, the more our morality is corrupted, leading to a numbness and justification of actions, but if we stand, firm in heart with what we know to be right, we are living with integrity. And when we stand firm like this, we can say as Shakespeare did, “There is no terror in your threats: for I am armed so strong in honesty that they pass by me as the idle wind, which I respect not” (Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3).

Besides the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors found in the Book of Mormon is one that exemplifies being true to a moral code.  The parents of these young boys made a pact with God to never again shed the blood of another again, regretting the wars and violent lusts from their days past.  Yet, when war was threatened upon them and their neighbors could no longer protect them, they began considering breaking the pact in order to defend their families and religion.  However, these astonishing youth instead volunteered to fight in place of their parents, knowing it was better to offer their lives than risk going back on their promise with themselves and with their God. This is how they are described by Helaman in Alma 53:20, “And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.” And these young men were entrusted with a lot: their faith, honor, homes, safety, obedience and much more. Yet, living with and going forth with the Lord in their hearts they were in fact true, through and through with integrity.  And like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, all 2,000 youth survived multiple battles despite the fact that the numbers of enemies faced alone, should have left them all dead. The more integrity we espouse, the more power we have.

                An unimpaired condition is the second definition of integrity.  For me, this definition always seemed to apply to say a ship after the storm: despite the tempest, the ship retained its integrity. Yet, when thinking again of our scripture story I hit upon the truth of this definition when applied to the human heart.  What does it mean to have an unimpaired heart when linked with our relationship to God?  When rolling this question over in my mind the imagery that hung over my eyes, was that of the Savior on the cross.  It is only through our Lord and Savior that we have the ability to be made perfect through his atoning sacrifice.   An unimpaired heart is one that seeks after the Lord.  One that espouses Christ-like love continually and when the mortal heart fails, as it always will, is yet turned continually to the Lord in repentance.  When we sin, we are in fact impaired as we no longer have His spirit and the Holy Ghost to abide with us as strongly as it was before we had sinned.  Even as something as mediocre as loosing ones temper and shouting in frustration we push the spirit of peace from ourselves, leaving us with an impairment.  Unimpaired implies perfection, yet we know as humans we can never be perfect.  Through the loving sacrifice of our Brother, we can in fact achieve this through his intercessory with the Father, that even in our imperfections, with a heart full of the Lord, we can in fact be unimpaired through repentance!                 

As we continue our understanding of integrity, we look to the third and last definition: The quality or state of being complete or undivided. Although separate from the second definition, I fell it expounds upon it.  I don’t know about you, but I sometimes struggle with being undivided. True integrity suggests this is what it takes: “to be of one heart and one mind” (D&C 45: 65) or as recorded in the bible, “One heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32).  While we emulate our Lord and Savior out of reverence, it is done for a greater purpose: to learn how to be Christ-like. Christ is one with God and if we are to also be like our Father in Heaven, we do so by emulating his perfect Son as best we can.  When our mind and heart are one with God we can experience true joy, peace, and love.  When our wills are in alignment with what the Lord asks of us, then we know we are in the right and cannot be in the wrong. “Integrity in man should bring inner peace, sureness of purpose, and security in action.  Lack of integrity brings disunity, fear, sorrow, unsureness” (Spencer W, Kimball).  It takes the first two definitions of integrity to them get to and perfect this aspect of it, but what blessings to have inner peace, sureness of purpose, and security in action.  This is what true integrity gives us. All the examples from scripture given before demonstrate that, but let me give you one more: “And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job 2:3). Job, bereaved of family, home, health and friends exhibited true integrity as he never once blamed or denied his God.  He stood firm with who he was and the choices he has made despite the goading of his so-called friends and set an example of what true integrity is, despite the cost it takes to sometime prove or develop such a characteristic.  As in everything the Lord does, we are rewarded for such integrity. I feel blessed to have so many examples to expound upon such an important attribute.    

I am aware that we are all along different paths in our integrity, and like faith, is something that needs to be continually worked upon, otherwise, as stated earlier, it corrupts and slowly deteriorates.  I know I don’t face every day with a sureness of purpose.  And I certainly do not always achieve inner peace.  All it means is I have work left to do. So let us look toward these examples as found in the scriptures, taking a deeper look inside ourselves, asking: Do I stick to my morals? Am I repentant? And am I undivided?